‘Explain yourselves’

Two former officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Air Marshal (retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed and Mosaddique Ahmed, were asked by a parliamentary body yesterday to submit written statements over their involvement in taking lease of two Boeing 777 aircrafts, which resulted in huge losses for Biman.

Jamal was chairperson of Biman's board of directors and Mosaddique was managing director and CEO.

The parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry asked the two to submit their statements before the committee within the next 10 days, sources said.

The parliamentary watchdog's meeting was held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, with RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, a ruling Awami League lawmaker, in the chair.

Earlier on September 29, Jamal and Mosaddique gave their verbal statements on taking lease of the aircrafts before the Jatiya Sangsad committee's meeting.

"But the committee yesterday said the former officials will have to submit their statements in writing within ten days before the committee," sources in the meeting said.

After getting the statements, the committee will examine them through an expert team, which will take necessary measures for the next course of action.

Jamal, Mosaddique, and several other former officials of the national flag carrier were present at yesterday's meeting.

On September 8, the parliamentary body summoned all those of Biman involved in taking lease of two Boeing 777-200ER from Egypt in 2014, which caused losses worth Tk 1,223 crore.

Then secretary of civil aviation ministry Mohibul Haque had said that Tk 1,223 crore spent on the age-old planes is more than the price of a brand-new plane.

A probe by the ministry in March 2019 concluded that the terms and conditions of the "non-transparent" lease agreement clearly went against Biman's interests.

It found that a section of Biman officials inked the deal for personal gains, sources said, quoting the report.

A Biman official yesterday told The Daily Star that a section of former officials involved in the agreement signing actually didn't want the planes to fly. They reportedly benefited while the planes remained grounded.